Time-lock



2 sheets -sheet 1.

(ModeL) H, P. NEWBURY.

TIME LOOK.

Patented Aug. 1, 1882.

HW NTOR:

WITNESSES N. PETERS. PhomLmw ra her, wuhinpw. DvC.

(Model) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. H. F. NEWBURY.

TIME LOCK. No. 262,095. Patented. Aug. 1, 1882'.

WITNESSES i RM QMMQM NlTE STATES ATENT niece.

HENRY F. NEWBURY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

TIME-LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of'Letters Patent No. 262,095, dated August1, 1882.

' Application filed July 6, 1881.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY F. NEWBURY, of the city of Brooklyn, in thecounty of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Chronometric or Time Locks and the Mode ofMounting the Same, (Case 0;) and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of my invention, and will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

A chronometric or time look, as the term is understood in the art ofsafe and vault protection, is a lock whose bolt or checking device(sometimes technically called dog is, for the purpose of unlocking atleast, under the controlof a time-movement, capable of withdrawing itautomatically or of permitting it to be withdrawn from the lockingposition upon the arrival of the hour for which the mechanism haspreviously been set. By placing such looks upon the interior-of thestructures to be protected, and without mechanical connection with theexterior thereof, it has been supposed that an efficient security isprovided against what are known as masked burglaries, and that thuslocks of this class afford a complete protection against the operationsof the burglar, except when he resorts to violence calculated to forcethe walls of the safe or vault. I have discovered, however, that thesecurity thus afforded is apparent only, and that any of the time-locksnow uponthe market, when mounted in the established way, can be defeatedby the burglar without difficulty and without resort to force to breakor penetrate the walls of the structure in which the lock is used. Fromthis it results that practically a safe or vault'guarded by acoinbination-lock has its security increased but little, if any, by theaddition-of any of the existing time-locks, and that the protectionafforded by such time-lock alone is far less reliable than that affordedby an ordinary combination-lock alone. This defect in the existingchronometric locks as heretofore mounted arises from the frangiblecharacter of certain parts of the time-movement, which in all fine workare made so slight and delicate as to be broken readily by a suddenshock, such as (Model) might be communicated to them through the wallsof a safe or vault by the explosion of a small charge of dynamite,nitro-glycerine, or other quick explosive outside the walls of thestructure, but in proximity to that part of the walls against which thelock is secured. The parts ofa time-movement which are the farthestremoved from the main wheel are the most delicate, and therefore themost easily broken, this being the case especially with the staff of thethird wheel and with the pallet and escapewheel staffs. The journals ofthese staffs as ordinarily constructed are made exceedinglysmall, forthe purpose ofreducing the surfaces of contact, and thus the friction,to a minimum, and the finer the workmanship of the lock the slighter andmore frangible are these parts likely to be. Any material increase inthe extent of the bearings, whereby the strength of the parts wouldbeaugmented, would correspondingly increase the friction and impair thetime-keeping properties of the movement. Time-locks with jeweledmovements, also, are specially exposed to injuryin the manner indicated,since the jewels,by reason of their brittleness, might easily be brokenby the force of an explosion of great intensityin closeproximitytothem.Thedestructionofany of the parts intermediate between the balancewheeland the main wheel at once releases the main wheel from the control ofthe escapement, and the movement immediately begins to run down, a movement which otherwise would continue torun for several days withoutrewinding now running down in as many seconds. As the dial or otherdevice arranged to act upon the lock-bolt or dog to withdraw it orpermit it to move from the locking position is actuated from the samespring that drives the main wheel, its speed will be correspondinglyaccelerated, so that the dog, instead of being withdrawn from engagementwith the boltwork of the door at the regular hour for'which the lock hasbeen set, will be withdrawn immediately upon the explosion or othershock, 5

them in advance of his attack upon the timelock, either by picking themor forcing them, or by threats compelling the co-operation of thecustodian of' the key or combination. In whatever way this maybe done,the subsequent unlocking of the bolt of the time-lock in the mannerindicated (and repeated experiments show that this can readily be donewith a charge of dynamite so small as to make but little noise and noteven indent or otherwise appreciably affect the walls of the safe)removes all obstruction to free access to the valuables placed under theprotection of such lock.

The present invention relates to a means of obviating theabove-described defect in timelocks;anditeonsistsintheuseof'supplemental bearings for the staffs of thevarious wheels of the time-movement, so constructed and arranged, ashereinafter explained, as to prevent an interruption in the continuityof the train in case any one of the staffs becomes broken.

The invention is fully illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in whichFigure 1, Sheet I, is a front elevation of a safe-door provided with thewell-known Holmes lock, this view being intended to show the generalrelation of such a lock to the parts with which it is designed tocooperate and its normal mode of operation.

Referring to the drawings in detail, A represents the time-lock; B, thetime-movement of the lock; 0, the bolt or dog of the lock,,

and l) the dial through which the time-movement acts to withdraw the dogfrom the locking position. E is the doorof' the safe or vault; F, thedoor-frame; and G G, the door-bolts, of which His the carrying ortie-bar, and I is one of the guide-bars, the other not being shown.

The interposition of the lock-bolt 0 between the fixed stud J and theangle-lever K, which is pivoted at 7. and is connected with thecarrying-bar II by means of' the link L, dogs the bolt-work and preventsits retraction by force applied to the spindle, which extends from thebolt-work through to the outside of the door.

Thelock-bolt O is withdrawn from this locking position in the followingmanner: M M are pinions on the mainspringarbors of the twotime-movements of the lock. These pinions, by the intermediate gears,are made to drive the dial 1), and the pin (1 on this dial strikesagainst the lower aim of the dog-actuating lever g, and thus withdrawsthe dog at the predetermined hour for which the mechanism has been setand releases the bolt-work.

ef'erring now to Sheet II of the drawings,

Fig. 2 is a front elevation, showing the arthese figures N representsthe main wheel of the train, N the first wheel, N the second wheel, andN the third wheel, of the train, while 0 represents the escapc'wheel, Ithe pallet, and Q, the balance-wheel. In order to prevent thedisplacement of the staff of either the first, the second, or the thirdwheel, or that of the escape-wheel or the pallet, in case their slenderand fragile ends should become broken, each of these staffs, as shown onan enlarged scale in Fig. 4t,is provided with secondary or supplementalbearings T T. One of these hearings (on the staff of the third wheel Nin Fig. 4) is shown in section. As here shown, this supplemental bearingis in the form of a flat ring attached to the inner face of the frame inwhich the staff has its primary bearing, and is arranged concentric withsuch primary bearing. The aperture in the ring, into which the end ofthe thick part of the staff enters, is slightly larger than such portionof the staff, so that the staff, as long as it remains unbroken, canturn freely there in without contact, and so without friction. If,however, the small end of the staff should be broken, and the staffthereby be released from its main bearing,itwill at once be caught bythe secondary bearing without a disengagement of the train taking place.

As shown in the drawings, the secondary bearing is not used with thebalance-wheel staff. It is not necessary thus to protect this part ofthe movement, for if this staff should be broken it would not cause themovement to run down, but would simply cause it to stop.

Small collars may be used on the staffs of the time-movement, as shownatUUin Fig. 4. These collars will serve to provide against alongitudinal displacement of the staffs, such as might be speciallyliable to occur under a. heavy shock if the primary bearings of" thestaffs were in jewels, as at V. Instead of using collars for thispurpose, other forms of stops, such as pins variously arranged, might beused. So, also, the body of the staff might be enlarged sufficiently topermit a shoulder to be formed on it close to, but not touching, thering T; or a small plate or other. stop might be arranged on the outsideof the frame and opposite the end of' the staff.

Instead of making the secondary hearing by means of a flat ring orperforated boss affixed to the. inner face of the frame of thetime-movement, as shown in Fig. 4, this frame may be recessed on itsinner face, as shown at V in Fi 5, such recess being made ofslightlylarger diameter than that of the thick part of the staffentering it.

Instead of using a flat ring affixed to the frame as the secondarybearing,it maybe made in the form of a broad collar attached to thestaff in close proximity to the inner face of the frame, as shown at Xin Fig. 6. Vith this construction, if the small end of the staff hecomesbroken, the tendency of the staff to fall will at once bring the collarX to a bearing IIS against the frame, and thus arrest the move- I 2. Thecombination, in achronometriclock, ment before its parts can becomedisengaged. I of the staffs of the time-movement, supple- Such collaralso would act to prevent longimental or secondary bearings to preventthe 15 tudinal'displacement of the staff in the manstaffs, if broken byashock, from being moved 5 net above explained. apart, and stops mountedon or arranged in What is claimed as new is combination with the stallsto prevent them 1. The combination,in a chronometric look, fromlongitudinal displacement, substantially of the staffs of thetime-movement and supas and for the purpose described.

plemental or secondary bearings to prevent HENRY I NEWBURY. 10 thedisengagement of the train in case the Witnesses:

staffs become broken, substantially as de- R0131. H. DUNCAN,

scribed. I SAML. A. DUNCAN.

